Frozen Tears
by Falneou17
Summary: A chance encounter is all it takes for new bonds to form, but what is it that this mysterious girl is hiding? How far are they willing to go for the other? And what will happen when the truth is finally revealed? Contains Strawberry Ice Cream and small hints of Monochrome. Contains character death.
1. Chapter 1

**Warning: May contain spoilers for RWBY Volumes 2 and 3. Once again, just to be safe, this story will contain eventual character death.**

 **Special thanks to the amazing LightZephyr for helping out in the editing of this chapter.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to RWBY, nor do I, in any way, shape or form, intend to pretend that I do.**

* * *

The chaos that the city of Vale was in was, slowly but surely, dissipating; much like how all of the Grimm were disappearing as they were, one by one, killed by the multitude of hunters and huntresses. Among the people trying to keep them at bay were the huntresses-in-training of team RWBY from Beacon Academy.

As the number of Grimm was quick to fall, Ruby, Weiss and Yang made their way to the fourth member of their team, the only one of the four still fighting. While none of them were seriously injured, the battle had taken a significant toll on their bodies.

"That should be the last of them," Blake muttered, impaling an Ursa in the head with her Gambol Shroud before the body started to disintegrate into uncountable, tiny particles that scattered in the wind. Looking around, the raven haired girl saw that the last remaining Grimm were being surrounded and killed by machines and fellow hunters alike, lifting an invisible weight off her chest.

"We did good…" Yang breathed out, allowing herself to fall back and lie sprawled out in the charred grass. After a few seconds of silence, she piped up again, "Now what?"

"I don't know about any of you, but I could go with a warm shower and a nice rest," Weiss replied, dusting off her clothes while simultaneously borrowing her shoulder to Blake to help her stand upright.

With a silent nod of agreement, Blake followed Weiss as the two of them started to make their way back to Beacon Academy. Seeing that the decision had been made for her, and not being able to disagree with the heiress, Yang got back on her feet with grunt before following the duo.

"Yeah! Let's—" Ruby added enthusiastically before something in the corner of her eyes caught her attention, making the brunette stop mid-stride in favor of turning around.

"Rubes?" Yang called out to her little sister, noticing that the brunette was lagging behind. Hearing the blonde's voice, both Blake and Weiss turned to look in Ruby's direction as well with a mix of exhaustion, curiosity and, in the latter's case, mild irritation.

"You guys go on ahead, I thought I saw something!" Ruby shouted over her shoulder before sprinting into one of the many dark alleys of the city. Before she was out of earshot, however, the leader of team RWBY added, "I'll catch up with you in our room later!"

The remaining members of team RWBY watched in slight confusion as their leader left them, not knowing what else they could say or do in the situation.

"What's gotten into her?" Weiss wondered out loud, being the first to speak and break the silence after Ruby left.

"I don't know…" Blake muttered, letting out a wide yawn soon after before gently pushing Weiss forward, "Come on, that suggestion of a good night's sleep of yours is really tempting…"

With that, Blake and Weiss resumed walking back to the airport, both clearly content that the day was finally over.

Yang, on the other hand, lingered behind for a little while longer, her face being a mix of both worry and exhaustion.

"Don't stay out too long…"

After a few seconds, Yang decided that Ruby was more than capable of taking care of herself and turned on her heel to regroup with her teammates.

* * *

"Wait!" Ruby shouted, forcing her legs to move even faster as the figure in front of her turned the corner.

Ruby knew that she wasn't imagining things; she really did see somebody earlier run into the alley.

Her suspicions were confirmed when she looked up and saw the person in question turn the corner in a sharp turn.

And Ruby was sure that she saw a limp in the person's stride.

"I won't hurt you, I promise!" Ruby tried again, now feeling her legs burn as the exhaustion from the earlier battle was starting to take its toll on her.

Jumping over several fallen crates in one leap, Ruby turned yet another corner and skidded to a halt, barely managing to stop herself from falling. She had caught up with the person she knew she had been chasing for the past ten minutes.

And she wasn't what Ruby had expected in the slightest.

The person that Ruby had been chasing, clearly a girl, was significantly shorter than she was, the huntress-in-training to wonder just how old she was. The girl's black hair was muddied and matted and, Ruby finally noted as she paid more attention to the girl, she was holding on to her knee with her eyes closed tight.

Her knee, much to Ruby's horror, was twisted in an unnatural and clearly painful way.

Ruby, not knowing whether to go and comfort the girl or go look for help, was rooted to the spot until the injured girl finally noticed her. Ruby expected the girl to ask her for help, bring her to the medical team that was still on standby in the city center or even ask her to leave her altogether.

What Ruby _didn't_ expect was for the short girl to scramble to her feet, hissing loudly in pain, and trying her best to get away from the brunette, even if that meant that she had to crawl to do so.

"Wait!" Ruby cried out when she realized what the girl was doing. While Ruby didn't know a lot about healing broken bones, she knew that moving as much as the unknown girl was couldn't be good for her leg.

Deciding on her course of action without hesitation, Ruby pushed off the concrete and felt the breeze diverge around her body as she darted forward. Moving at blistering speeds, Ruby would have easily run past the injured girl had Ruby not spun around with the help of Crescent Rose.

The brunette's spontaneous action had at least one good effect: she was finally able to talk to the girl she had been chasing for the last ten minutes face-to-face.

"Please. I won't hurt you, I promise!" Ruby pleaded, folding and tucking away her scythe to emphasize her point. Careful so as to not startle the small girl, Ruby knelt down in front of her to take a better look at the leg, "Hm… this doesn't look good. There's a medical team not far from here, come on. I'll carry you."

Without wasting another second, the brunette turned around to try and get the girl on her back. Much to her surprise, the only response that Ruby got was a strained and pained hiss.

"I promise I won't hurt you, but we need to hurry to get that leg of yours healed!" Ruby pleaded, knowing that they had to hurry.

Perhaps it was the look in Ruby's eyes that did it, or perhaps it was the desperation in the brunette's voice. It could even be that the pain in her leg was finally getting to her, forcing her to make a decision that she normally would not have made. Whichever one it was, Ruby did not know, but she found herself smiling when she felt the girl climb on her back slowly, almost hesitantly so.

That was until the brunette noted just how light the girl was as she hurried back.

"I didn't get to introduce myself yet, have I?" Ruby chuckled awkwardly after a few minutes of silence. Ruby still had to find the main streets, and was surprised to find out just how far she had chased the girl on her back. With a light shrug to get back to the present, Ruby continued, "My name is Ruby, nice to meet you… um…"

Turning her head as far around as possible without possibly disturbing the girl on her back, Ruby saw that the girl had fallen asleep. Somehow, however, this did not surprise her.

 _'I can't imagine what she must have gone through…'_ Ruby thought with a smile on her face as she returned her focus on walking.

After a few seconds, however, another thought crossed Ruby's mind.

 _'If only we stopped the Grimm sooner, then she wouldn't be hurt like this. Then nobody would have—'_

"Miss Rose?"

The familiar voice shook Ruby back to reality, and as the brunette looked around in shock she couldn't help but wonder how she had reached her destination without even realizing it.

Looking around to find the source of the voice that had called her, the young huntress-in-training soon found the green eyes of Glynda Goodwitch on her. Startled, Ruby jumped back slightly, doing her best not to fall or drop the girl on her back.

"What are you still doing here? Everybody was supposed to return to Beacon Academy as soon as the fighting was over," Glynda asked Ruby before her eyes focused on the girl on Ruby's back and her gaze noticeably softened, "Who is that?"

"This is… uh…" Ruby trailed off as she finally realized that she didn't even know the girl's name. Instead of answering her teacher's question, Ruby decided to move right down to the main problem; or what she felt was the main problem, "She lost consciousness before I could ask her. I think she is one of the civilians here who got hurt in the invasion. She needs help! Her leg is—"

"Get in the airship and bring her to the infirmary," Glynda ordered, interrupting Ruby's sentence as she pointed to a nearby airship, "There are more victims than the hospitals here can manage, so Professor Ozpin told me to send any remaining injured to Beacon."

"Thank you, Professor!" Ruby exclaimed happily before boarding the airship, making sure to carry the injured girl carefully enough so as to not hurt her.

Once in the airship, and having made sure that the girl was safely strapped in, Ruby watched the figure of the sleeping girl with a soft smile on her face.

 _'You're going to be fine.'_

* * *

"That test was _brutal_!" Yang groaned as she was the last of team RWBY to step out of the classroom, finding Ruby, Weiss and Blake waiting for her, "Shouldn't we at least be given a break after protecting Vale from all those Grimm two days ago?"

"It wasn't that hard," Blake shrugged as she readjusted the strap of her bag on her shoulder, "We've had worse exams before."

"Yes, remember that exam that—" Weiss began before cutting herself off. She saw something move in the corner of her eye, and this made the white-haired heiress stop mid-stride. Noticing the sudden change in Weiss' pace, both Blake and Yang stopped and turned in her direction to see Weiss turning to the fourth member of their team, "What are you waiting for? You're usually the one who rushes out of the classroom the moment the test finishes; what's wrong?"

"Sorry guys, but you can go on ahead without me," Ruby muttered before turning around and walking in the opposite direction without another word.

The remaining members of team RWBY found themselves in a prolonged period of silence until Weiss turned to Yang.

"Is it just me or is your sister acting weird?" Weiss asked the blonde, "Weirder than normal, I mean. No offence."

"None taken…" Yang breathed out as she was still watching her sister walk in the distance, "She _is_ acting differently than usual; do you think that she is hiding something from us?"

"She's probably still tired; remember that we just came back from Mt. Glenn, fought some members of the White Fang _and_ the Grimm and had this test. This all happened in less than a week's time," Blake pointed out, slightly startling herself as she only then realized just how much had happened in that week. Judging from the looks on both Weiss' and Yang's face, Blake knew that they didn't realize this until she pointed it out either.

"We should probably go after her to make sure that she is fine," Yang urged the other two on, both Blake and Weiss nodding in agreement.

Following the girl clad in red and black, the three of them soon found themselves standing just outside of the infirmary. Ruby's voice could be heard clearly through the closed doors, even without trying hard to listen through the closed doors.

"I'm glad to see that you're feeling a lot better now!"

Before either Blake or Yang could stop her, Weiss had opened the door and stepped inside, "Ruby Rose!"

"Weiss!"

"What are you doing?!"

"Ah, Weiss! Yang and Blake are here, too! Perfect timing!" Ruby smiled, seemingly not affected by the fact that she had been followed. Grabbing Blake and Weiss by the wrist, Ruby dragged the two of them inside as Yang casually followed her sister, "Come on come on! There's someone I want you guys to meet!"

"Really now?" Weiss asked, almost skeptical as Ruby dragged her to the hospital bed on the far end of the infirmary, "And this person is here of all places?"

"Yes!" Ruby grinned as she stood in front of the bed of a raven haired girl. The girl had a glint in her eyes that both Blake and Yang saw but, when they tried to see it again, was replaced with a bright and radiating smile. Both girls shrugged it off as a result.

"And who exactly _is_ she, Ruby?" Weiss asked, bringing Blake and Yang back to the infirmary as their leader turned to the bedridden girl that, much to the girls of team RWBY's surprise, seemed to be even shorter than both Ruby and Weiss were.

"She's the girl I saw back in Vale," Ruby explained as she introduced the girl to her friends, "She injured her leg and I brought her here. Her name is—"

Before Ruby could finish her sentence, she had a scroll forcefully shoved in her face, cutting her off. Not flinching at the sudden action, unlike all three of her teammates, Ruby took the scroll and read the word that was shown on the screen.

"'Rupia'? Is that your name?" Ruby asked the bedridden girl, to which she received an affirmative nod in response. Ruby smiled at that answer, clearly content, but couldn't help but mutter under her breath, "I was sure her name was 'Neo'…"

"What was that?" Blake asked, directing her question to Ruby as Weiss and Yang tried talking with Neo, being the only one to have heard Ruby say anything.

"Nothing! Nothing at all!" Ruby replied quickly, mentally scolding herself for forgetting about Blake's sensitive hearing. Blake frowned at the response, but didn't go further in asking Ruby about it; something that Ruby was very grateful for.

"So how are you feeling, Rupia?" Yang asked Neo cheerfully but with an undertone of concern in her voice.

Neo, much to the girls' surprise, motioned for Ruby to return her scroll to her rather than answer Yang's question directly. Once the device was back in her hands, Neo typed quickly before showing the screen to the four curious, waiting girls.

 _"I'm recovering just fine, thank you for asking! Sorry that I am answering your question like this, but I can't talk yet; my throat still hurts from one of the Grimm that attacked me."_

"It's great that you're feeling better, but I'm sorry to hear that the Grimm hurt you," Blake muttered sympathetically, Weiss and Yang nodding in agreement, "We should probably let you rest, though. It was nice meeting you, Rupia."

 _"Likewise!"_ Neo grinned as she held up the scroll before a big yawn escaped her mouth, eliciting a giggle from Ruby.

"Let's go, Blake. Yang. Ruby." Weiss said, motioning to the respective people as she turned around and made her way out. With Blake quick to follow her and Yang not far behind, Ruby turned to face Neo one last time before leaving—

Only to find that the girl had already fallen asleep. Seeing the peaceful look on her face, Ruby couldn't help but smile.

 _'I hope your recover soon, Rupia!'_

* * *

"You seem to be doing a lot better now," Ruby smiled as she saw Neo sitting upright in her bed, "How are you feeling?"

 _"Fantastic!"_ Neo grinned, holding up her scroll that showed her response to the brunette. After making sure that Ruby had read her reply, Neo typed out another line before showing it to her friend, _"Look what I can do now."_

Without any warning, Neo pushed herself off the bed to land on the ground, causing Ruby to gasp in shock before eyeing her in awe.

"Your leg! It healed!" Ruby exclaimed happily as she watched Neo hop from one leg to another to show her that she had, indeed, fully recovered from her injuries, "That's great!"

 _"Thank you, Ruby,"_ Neo smiled as she sat down again, motioning for the brunette to sit down with her, _"And thank you for bringing me here on that day."_

"Don't mention it!" Ruby beamed as she made herself comfortable beside Neo on the bed, "I'm just sorry that I couldn't have stopped the Grimm that attacked you, you wouldn't have been hospitalized if I could."

 _"On the other hand, it gave us the chance to meet, right?"_ Neo reasoned, and Ruby had to admit that the ravenette had a point; if Neo hadn't gotten hurt, Ruby probably wouldn't have met her.

The two girls fell in a comfortable silence before Neo finally raised her scroll again.

 _"There is something that I have to tell you."_

"You have to go, don't you?" Ruby asked, a pang of hurt audible in her voice as she turned to face Neo, the ravenette looking up in shock, "I already had a feeling that you would… you only came here to get your leg treated and the hospitals back in the city were all full after that Grimm attack. I knew you had to leave eventually…"

 _"That is only half of what I was going to say,"_ Neo responded by holding up her scroll for Ruby to see. As soon as she saw that Ruby had finished reading it, Neo turned back to her scroll to finish typing out the rest of her sentence, _"I will be leaving Beacon, yes, but I have a place in Vale. You're more than welcome to come visit me."_

"Really?!" Ruby asked ecstatically, not ready to believe her ears. Seeing Neo nod her head in confirmation, Ruby smirked, "I'll make sure to hold you to that promise!"

* * *

" _This_ is the place you were talking about?!" Ruby gasped in awe as soon as Neo let her in, visibly speechless as she looked around; much to Neo's amusement.

To Neo, the three room apartment wasn't anything special. It was true that she was used to worse settlements, but it was also true that Neo had spend time in bigger, more luxurious places as well. As a result, seeing Ruby run around the hallway to look around the place brought forth an emotion that Neo could not quite determine.

 _"Professor Ozpin pulled some strings for me to get this place, and I have some good friends who helped me out financially as well,"_ Neo explained, though not exactly speaking the truth, while inviting Ruby to the living room, _"You're more than welcome to come visit me any time you want."_

"Thanks, I'll hold you to that!" Ruby grinned as she flopped down on the couch. Turning to face Neo, Ruby asked, "So how have you been, lately? I'm sorry it took me over a week to come visit you."

After Neo walked back into the room with two cups and a teapot, the two girls lost all sense of time as they conversed comfortably, or as comfortable as possible with one person typing out her responses.

It was only when Neo left to get some more tea that Ruby finally noticed the change in the color of the sun's rays.

Looking out the window, Ruby was shocked to see the setting sun in the distance, not realizing just how much time had passed since she came to visit her friend.

"It's _that_ late already?! I'm sorry Rupia, but I have to go!" Ruby apologized, jumping on her feet and grabbing her coat. While busy putting it on, Ruby added in a frantic tone, "I promise I will come to see you again soon!"

 _"That's alright,"_ Neo smiled, though the vertically challenged girl could feel a pang of hurt in her chest as she watched her friend leave, _"I'll see you then."_

With a nod and a smile, Ruby gathered her things before running off in the direction of the airport, leaving Neo behind in her warm apartment.

Neo, for some reason, couldn't help but stand outside to watch Ruby run until the now multicolor haired girl couldn't make out the brunette's figure in the dark anymore.

With a soft sigh, Neo went back inside, making sure that she had locked everything before deciding that she might as well enjoy that cup of tea herself anyway.

"Why hello, Neo. Good to see you that you're still alive," a calm voice came from behind her, causing a shiver to run down Neo's spine as she recognized the voice of the man.

Taking a deep breath to regain her composure, Neo forced a bright smile to form on her face before turning around. As she had expected, that man was standing right in front of her, just as she remembered him.

Roman Torchwick.

"Nice night, isn't it?" Roman asked offhandedly with a grin whilst taking leisurely strides as he neared the multi-color haired girl. Stopping just a few meters away from Neo, Roman leaned on his cane before continuing, "I couldn't help but notice that you were awfully close with our dear Little Red, weren't you?"

 _'He knows…'_ Neo gulped, unconsciously taking a step back. Despite her nervousness, she tried her best to keep it from her facial expression. She was successful at this, much to Neo's relief, as Roman didn't seem to pick up on it at all.

"But that's a good thing!" Roman exclaimed suddenly, throwing his arms into the air to emphasize his point while Neo couldn't help but gape at the man in both disbelief and confusion. Luckily for Neo, Roman had turned around, so this change in Neo's demeanor went unnoticed. As Roman was nonchalantly spinning his cane, he continued talking, "Cinder is moving on to the next phase of her plan, and you are going to play a vital role in it!"

Neo was shuffling around uneasily while listening to Roman. Why did Roman think that it is a good thing that she was spending time with Ruby?

It was right before the words left Roman's mouth that Neo finally understood what he was saying.

"We're going to make full use of your "friendship" with Little Red, Neo!" Roman grinned as he turned around to face his partner, "Take Little Red away from the main stage and finish her!"

* * *

 **That should wrap up the first chapter of this Tragedy/Romance twoshot of mine. Hope you enjoyed it! Next chapter's (hopefully) coming out the week of (but before the actual date of) V4's release, so keep an eye out for it!**

 **In accordance with the color-naming rule (despite not being an actual OC, I still feel the need to bring this up): "Rupia" comes from a medical condition that is defined by Merriam-Webster as "** **an eruption occurring especially in tertiary syphilis consisting of vesicles having an inflamed base and filled with serous purulent or bloody fluid which dries up and forms large blackish conical crust". In addition, as this is the form that Neo takes in the Vytal tournament in the four-people team with Cinder, Emerald and Mercury, their initials will make them team CRME; this team name can be pronounced as "chrome" (stemming from the element Chromium that, in turn, has a metallic silver coating in solid form).**

 **Take care!**


	2. Chapter 2

**And we're back with the second and final chapter of this story (a _lot_ later than was originally planned, I know… I'm sorry…); it's also a bit shorter than originally anticipated as, while we had a handful of ideas… they didn't really work out (and while this sounds like an excuse, I think that it is part of the reason why it took so long). I hope that, despite all of this, you still manage to enjoy this chapter!**

 **Special thanks to LightZephyr for, once again, helping me out in wrapping this chapter up!**

 **Reminder from the last chapter: 'Rupia' is the name Neo gave team RWBY to hide her real identity from them.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY, nor do I, in any way, shape or form, intend to pretend that I do.**

* * *

 _Cold…_

That was the first thing that came to Ruby's mind as she was lying down… somewhere she didn't know where. Her eyelids felt heavy, and the brunette, much to her dismay, felt a searing pain throughout her whole body. Steeling herself for the pain she knew was coming, the young huntress-in-training slowly sat up and tried to look around in a desperate effort to see where she could be.

It ended up not being of much help as the young leader didn't recognize anything in the room, with the exception of, to her relief, her beloved Crescent Rose.

She made sure to hold on to her beloved weapon lovingly for a few seconds before realizing the situation that she was in again.

With a groan, Ruby slowly lowered herself back to the cold, hard floor, tried to make herself comfortable and felt her mind wander off somewhere.

* * *

 _"This is the place?!" Yang all but screamed when she saw the building in front of her as her younger sister only watched on in amusement. The remaining two members of the team, while being better at hiding it, were visibly impressed as well._

 _It was a bright and sunny day, and a lack of classes meant that the fearless leader of team RWBY had insisted on the team spending the day outside the school. The initial suggestion was followed by heavy opposition from another member who insisted that they spend it keeping up with the upcoming material._

 _Eventually, Ruby and Yang managed to convince Weiss – by convincing Blake – that they would only be going off to see Neo. The other members had agreed on this, in part, because only Ruby had seen Neo after the ice-cream-themed half pint had left the infirmary at Beacon._

 _Which is what led up to the four members of team RWBY standing outside Neo's new apartment._

 _"It sure is!" Ruby grinned, happy to see the looks on her teammates' faces before skipping over to the door and ringing the doorbell, "Rupia said that Professor Ozpin helped her out, but that she also had other friends help her."_

 _"She must have some very good friends, then…" Blake trailed off as she turned around. Ruby and Yang, noticing the momentary pause, followed Blake's line of vision._

 _"What?" Weiss asked, slightly uneasy at the three pairs of eyes that were staring at her. A few seconds passed before the snow-haired heiress realized why, "I… Rupia said she had everything covered, so I—"_

 _"Trusted her word and dropped it?" Yang smirked, interrupting Weiss' sentence as the happiness was clearly evident in her voice. The blonde was about to say something else, but the distinct sound of a door opening halted her._

 _"What are you guys doing here?" Neo's scroll lit up while the owner glanced at the four taller girls standing in front of her. Her eyes, Ruby noted, held a hint of curiosity and shock in them, but also of something else that the brunette couldn't tell._

 _"Shouldn't it be obvious?" Yang grinned, being the first to respond to Neo. While Ruby, Weiss, and Blake positioned themselves by Yang's side, a look of understanding crossed Neo's face, "We're here to see you! How are you?"_

 _Neo's face lit up as the words reached her, and Yang had to actually shake her shoulders a bit to get her back to the present. Fumbling slightly with her scroll, she pressed a few buttons before smiling contently at the screen. Holding it gently in her open palm, she turned it on and smiled._

 _"Thank you for coming!"_

 _Blake, Weiss, and Yang all gasped when they saw the letters projected into the air for them to see, but Ruby only smiled in return as if she wasn't surprised in the slightest._

 _"Not to sound rude or anything, but do you think we can come in? It's kind of cold here…" Ruby shuddered as she stroked her arms to generate a bit of heat for herself._

 _"Ah, of course! Sorry." New words showed up as Neo stepped aside to let the four of them in. This invitation was gratefully accepted by all members of team RWBY, and while some managed to restrain their eagerness to enter the comforts of the warm apartment, they all entered soon after._

 _Being the first to enter Neo's apartment, Ruby swiveled around to see the reaction of her teammates and was not disappointed in the slightest._

 _"You know, Rupia, I'm impressed!" Blake said as she turned to Neo, who smiled sheepishly in response while her scroll lit up._

 _"Thank you. I had some help from some friends with the furniture, though."_

 _"Well… that, too, but I was actually talking about your scroll," Blake clarified, earning herself multiple glances as she suddenly found herself the center of attention, "I mean, it is able to type out words that you didn't type into it, right?"_

 _"I heard of Atlas working on technology like this before; it is supposedly connected to a chip implanted in the brain of people who have difficulties talking so that it can type out what they want to say," Weiss mused while Neo nodded in confirmation. While Blake and Yang eyed Neo with admiration once they heard that, Weiss, Ruby noted, had a much more skeptical look on her face, "How were you even able to get your hands on something like that?"_

 _"Hm…" Neo frowned as the letters slowly faded away before looking up with a bright smile as new letters started to form, "I got friends in high places."_

* * *

Ruby was rudely shaken from her thoughts when she felt the floor—no, the entire room shake vigorously.

Jumping back on her feet, Ruby took a sprint to where she knew was the wall, impaling it with the tip of Crescent Rose while the huntress-in-training herself held on to her weapon as if her life depended on it.

While the shaking continued and only picked up in intensity, Ruby knew that it could very well be.

After what felt like hours, in which Ruby almost lost her grip three times, the shaking stopped and allowed the brunette to slowly pull herself back together.

Opening the door, Ruby flinched slightly as the strong winds almost blew her off her feet. Ruby reacted quickly and, once again, impaled the metal floor with the tip of her scythe to regain her balance.

A few moments passed in which Ruby had to get used to being on the airship's wing, but she eventually regained her footing. Letting out a deep breath, the brunette looked up only to come face-to-face with a familiar face.

And Ruby could feel the blood drain from her face once she recognized who it was.

"Rupia!"

* * *

"Careful with the knee!" Blake hissed as she dug her nails deep into her flesh to hide the hiss that escaped her lips.

"It's either this or living the rest of your life without a limb!" Weiss scolded her black-haired partner while she was focused on cleaning the wound. Despite her harsh words, the hint of worry in the eyes of the Schnee heiress was clearly visible.

"How is she?" a familiar voice came from behind the two girls before a frowning Yang stepped closer to inspect Blake. With a forced smile, Yang got back up after a few seconds of seeing her fallen friend, "I'm sure that you'll be fine."

"That aside, what about Ruby?" Blake asked curiously, looking up in time to see Yang flinch slightly. Understanding how she must be feeling, Blake added, albeit a lot more careful this time, "I'm sure that she's fine, Yang."

"I couldn't find her anywhere…" Yang admitted softly, the pain and worry clearly evident in her voice and making Weiss and Blake look away to hide the looks on their faces. With a deep intake of air, the blonde looked up.

"Which means that there is only one place left where she could be…"

* * *

 _"'Rupia'?"_ Ruby saw the girl in front of her grin smugly as she lowered herself into a stance; a stance Ruby knew she had seen before but couldn't recall where. Before Ruby could fully think about it, she heard the scraping of metal against metal when the girl in front of her removed the long and thin yet incredibly sharp and deadly metal rod from the umbrella, _"I am Neo, and I will tell you this: only one of us is going to leave this place in one piece!"_

"Rupia, wait—!" Ruby began, hands trembling around Crescent Rose's hilt as the words she saw on the screen finally started to reach her, but she stopped when new words lit up on the screen.

 _"I already told you…"_ the words paused slightly just as Neo's face got obscured by her bangs, before all the remaining words appeared almost instantly, _"I am Neo!"_

Without warning, the shorter of the two closed the distance in a fraction of a second, the ringing sound of metal on metal reverberated soon after. Ruby had blocked Neo's stab with her Crescent Rose, her quick reflexes saving her from getting impaled by the blade but only barely.

After the two struggled with pushing the other girl away, Neo leaped back and allowed both of them to regain their footing.

"Why?" Ruby muttered as she took a shaky step in Neo's direction. As she was met with silence, the brunette tried again, "Why are you attacking me?"

Again, Ruby's question was met with silence, but not without a reaction from Neo. Despite Ruby's desperation for a response, she did not miss it.

Neo was trembling.

Ruby was about to open her mouth again to ask the shorter girl something else when Neo's scroll lit up again.

 _"The attacks on Vale is only the beginning. It is my job to take action to make the other kingdoms collapse as well. For that, I will do everything I can to only let one person leave this place alive!"_

"But if you do that, thousands of innocent lives—" Ruby tried but felt the words die in the back of her throat when she saw them. Neo's eyes.

Silence once again fell as the two girls locked gazes, one more steady than the other, as neither girl was willing to make a move. Ruby could feel every muscle in her body screaming for her to move away. She could feel the cold air hit the exposed parts of her skin, making the brunette regret not putting on something warmer. Ruby could feel the sudden jolt in the air ship's engine, forcing the young huntress-in-training to take a wobbly step forward.

And that was all the opening that Neo needed.

Without any wasted movements, Neo dove in and brought with her a hailstorm of jabs with her blade. A strike aimed at Ruby's right shoulder was almost immediately followed by a lunge towards the brunette's leg. A would-be stab at the abdomen came right before Ruby heard the air move by her left ear.

Ruby grunted. She was unwilling to take the offense in fear of hurting Neo so she kept jumping to the side to try and avoid losing a limb or two.

'At this rate, I won't even be able to fight back even if I wanted to,' Ruby thought grimly as she narrowly avoided a well-placed thrust aimed for the side of her head. When she tried to take another step back, Ruby found, much to horror, that her back met cold metal, 'No…'

Ruby was distracted by this discovery for a split second. Unfortunately for the brunette, a split second was not something that she could afford to lose.

Seeing her chance, Neo maneuvered her blade between Ruby's hands and, with one smooth movement, yanked the scythe out of Ruby's hands and over her shoulders.

"Ah!" Ruby gasped out when she realized that she wasn't holding her weapon anymore. She would have dashed after it in an effort to get it back had it not been for the metal blade pointing right below her chin.

Neo had a smug grin plastered on her face, all the while forcing Ruby to take one step back after the other. Before long, Ruby could feel more than anything how high up they were when the young huntress-in-training realized, to her horror, that she was standing on the edge of the wing of the airship.

"Don't do this," Ruby tried, forcing herself to look straight into Neo's differently-colored eyes. In doing so, the brunette could see – almost _feel_ – the emotions that she was hiding, "It's not too late to turn away from those who made you do this and fight for what's good!"

Neo halted. Ruby could barely see it, but she knew she hadn't missed it. The emotions behind Neo's eyes had changed. Ruby could only hope that it changed for the better when—

A harsh shove and Ruby felt her body falling off the airship.

"Neo!"

* * *

"It's not too late to turn away from those who made you do this and fight for what's good!"

Neo halted. She didn't mean to stop, but she couldn't ignore those words, either. After everything that she had been through in her life, Neo wasn't expecting to have to face those words. She had a duty to uphold, but Neo was now struggling with the one thing she didn't want to fight.

Neo knew exactly what she had to do.

Gritting her teeth, Neo used both her hands to push the brunette in front of her off the airship. The short girl closed her eyes in a desperate effort to shut out the sound of the yell that followed.

Neo let out a deep breath before turning away from the wing and heading back inside the airship when something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention.

'Right…' Neo thought bitterly as she made up her mind, 'There is still something that I have to do first.'

* * *

"Ruby!" Yang shouted as she ran up to the still lying girl, "Please! Wake up!"

"She's alive, Yang, now calm down or you may accidentally hurt her," Weiss said, placing a hand on the blonde's shoulder in an effort to calm her down despite the obviously worried look on her own face. With a slight frown, the Schnee heiress added, "I wonder what could've happened to her to leave her in that condition, though."

"Once I find out who did this—"

Ruby stirred, possibly from hearing the voices, just as Weiss was about to go and call for help. While the brunette tried to sit upright, both Yang and Weiss rushed to either side.

With a groan and a lot of effort, along with Yang's insistence for her to take it easy, Ruby managed to get up. She was still in a slight daze and not fully aware of how much time had passed, but then it all hit her at once.

"Crescent Rose! Neo!" Ruby exclaimed, looking around in alarm as her two teammates were caught off guard, "Where are—"

"Whoa, easy there, Rubes…" Yang interrupted with a half-smile, putting both her hands on her sister's shoulders to try and calm her down. It worked.

"Yang?" Ruby breathed out once she finally realized who was in front of her. Upon hearing an annoyed sound to her left, Ruby added, "Weiss! Why are you—"

"We came all this way to try and find you and that's the thanks we get?" Weiss scoffed, but the harshness of her question was mitigated by both the tone of her voice and the look on her face. It was clear that Weiss was as worried as Yang was, and Ruby made a quick mental note to thank them later.

"I don't know who or what 'Neo' is," Yang began, bringing Ruby back to reality as the brunette started to remember what happened earlier, "But Crescent Rose was lying right next to you. Just like Rupia's scroll."

"Rupia's?!" Ruby exclaimed in shock, startling both Yang and Weiss as Ruby dove for the device and stared at it. There was no mistaking it, that was Neo's scroll; Ruby had seen it enough to recognize it from anywhere. With a shaky turn of her head, Ruby turned to look at her two teammates who had been caught off-guard by Ruby's sudden movement, "Was she there when you found me?"

"No…" Yang trailed off as she turned to Weiss who nodded slowly in agreement, "But why would she be here anyway?"

Ruby had tuned both Yang and Weiss out when she noticed the screen of Neo's scroll lit up. Seeing this had her both shocked and hopeful and, before she knew what was going on, had Ruby stuck on reading every letter as they appeared on the screen.

 _"I am glad that you are alive. Please believe me, I did not want to kill you back there; quite the opposite, really. I spent my entire life believing that I needed him—no,_ them _, to survive, but I see that I was wrong all along."_

 _"What I told you up there was not a lie. None of it was. Which is why, rather than fight it out, I knew I had to step up and choose the right decision. I know that this may not be much, but I hope that this makes up for my mistakes, if only a little."_

Ruby's vision was starting to go bad as she reached the end of the message. She had a feeling she knew what her friend wanted to do, but she also hoped that she was wrong.

Then, out of nowhere, the distinct sound of an explosion reverberated through the area. All three huntresses-in-training jumped in surprise, turning to the source of the sound.

As soon they found it, all three girls gasped at the sight. A huge mass of burning rubble that was obviously an airship at one point fell from the sky in small chunks several kilometers away.

It was at that moment that Ruby lost her balance, the scroll in her hand slipped through her fingers, and the last, short line of Neo's message was highlighted.

 _"Thank you for being there for me…"_

* * *

 **Well then… I know that I said that this twoshot contained SIC but this story was never meant to be romance-focused, to begin with, so… anyways! I hope you enjoyed this twoshot! Thank you, again, for reading and being patient enough regarding its update speed, and until next time!**


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